Gary Snyder

American poet · United States · On the map · Writers · Born 1930 · age 96

Gary Sherman Snyder is an American poet, essayist, lecturer, and environmental activist. His early poetry has been associated with the Beat Generation and the San Francisco Renaissance and he has been described as the "poet laureate of Deep Ecology".

Gary Snyder is read about 266 times a day, in 31 languages.

A typical day, 30 days to 6 November 2026

The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 104 days, one point a day.

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A life in dates

2012Wallace Stevens AwardAward2011PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Literary AwardAward2008Ruth Lilly Poetry PrizeAward1997Bollingen PrizeAward1992“I recalled when I worked in the woods / and the bars of Madras, Oregon. / That short-haired joy and roughness - / America - your stupidity. / I could almost love you again.”In their wordsI Went into the Maverick Bar, from No Nature; New and Selected Poems (1992)Read the whole statement

1990“How could we be were it not for this planet that provided our very shape?”In their wordsThe Practice of the Wild (1990)Read the whole statement

1986Shelley Memorial AwardAward1984American Book AwardsAward1975“The Sioux idea of living creatures is that trees, buffalo and men are temporary energy swirls, turbulence patterns ...”In their wordsLee Bartlett, “Interview - Gary Snyder,” California Quarterly 9 (1975): 43-50. Quoted in: Starhawk (1999). The Spiral Dance: A Rebirth of theRead the whole statement

Pulitzer Prize for PoetryAward1968Guggenheim FellowshipAward1966Arts and Letters Award in LiteratureAward1961“As a poet I hold the most archaic values on earth.”In their words"Statement for the Paterson Society" (1961), as quoted in David Kherdian, Six Poets of the San Francisco Renaissance: Portraits andRead the whole statement

“The national polities of the modern world maintain their existence by deliberately fostered craving and fear. ...”In their words"Buddhism and the Coming Revolution" (1961, 1969)Read the whole statement

“The mercy of the West has been social revolution; the mercy of the East has been individual insight into the basic self/void. We need both.”In their words"Buddhism and the Coming Revolution" (1961, 1969)Read the whole statement

1930Born8 May 1930

People around Gary

Close ties

Edward Abbey Influenced by Gary

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Media & music

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In their own words 4

Gary Snyder

4 statements, newest first

If, after obtaining Buddhahood, anyone in my land / gets tossed in jail on a vagrancy rap, may I / not attain highest perfect enlightenment.
1992 · Burning, from No Nature; New and Selected Poems (1992), Own words
Better, the perfect, easy discipline of the swallows dip and swoop, without east or west.
1976 · On open form poetry in "Some Yips & Barks in the Dark" in Naked Poetry : Recent American Poetry in Open Forms (1976) edited by Stephen Berg, Own words
Institutional Buddhism has been conspicuously ready to accept or ignore the inequalities and tyrannies of whatever political system it found itself under.
1961 · "Buddhism and the Coming Revolution" (1961, 1969), Own words

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Awards

Wallace Stevens Award2012

PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Literary Award2011

Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize2008

Bollingen Prize1997

Shelley Memorial Award1986

American Book Awards1984

Pulitzer Prize for Poetry1975

Guggenheim Fellowship1968

Arts and Letters Award in Literature1966

About this person

Snyder is a winner of a Pulitzer Prize for Poetry and the American Book Award. His work, in his various roles, reflects an immersion in both Buddhist spirituality and nature. He has translated literature into English from ancient Chinese and modern Japanese. For many years, Snyder was an academic at the University of California, Davis, and for a time served as a member of the California Arts Council.

Country

United States